


Words and Weapons

by Elendiliel



Series: Lightning Strikes [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28503426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elendiliel/pseuds/Elendiliel
Summary: A newly minted Jedi General finds herself thrown in at the deep end on her first mission. At least she has a good team behind her - and a knack for finding unexpected solutions.
Series: Lightning Strikes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087898
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Words and Weapons

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer for this whole series: I started writing these when I was about halfway through Season 2, and didn't know how big a role Fives and Echo were going to play. Some mild canon divergence may be up ahead, but I've tried to avoid straying too far away.
> 
> Feedback, constructive criticism and suggested tags very welcome, if anyone actually reads this.

“Are you all right, General?”

Helli Abbasa didn’t register immediately that the question was addressed to her. She didn’t know whether she’d ever get used to her new rank. She certainly didn’t feel ready for it. The intense training she had undergone in the months since passing her trials hadn’t entirely prepared her for this, her first field assignment without her master and first command. Could anything fully prepare anyone for the reality of war?

A hand on her shoulder alerted her to the fact that she’d just been asked a question. She responded automatically. “Fine, thank you.” Only then did she turn to see who had spoken to her. It was one of her strike team. Sergeant Torrent, her mental filing system informed her, recognising the raindrop pattern on his helmet. The most experienced member of the unit, a veteran of the first battle of Geonosis. Most of the others had also been on the front lines for quite some time. Echo and Fives were legends in their legion, ever since that incident at Rishi outpost and the Sep assault on Kamino. Spark had been on General Skywalker’s stealth ship at the siege of Christophsis. Only Eagle was a shiny like herself. Helli felt distinctly outranked, but she also took comfort from knowing that her squad would know what to do even if she didn’t.

“Not nervous? This is your first command, isn’t it?” Torrent would make a good counsellor, Helli thought. His tone and phrasing were perfect, reassuring, tacitly acknowledging the problem without drawing too much attention to it. Letting her know she was among friends. She let herself relax her guard a little. It was never too early to start building trust.

“’Fraid so.” Helli unconsciously tried to twist her padawan braid around her finger, forgetting that it wasn’t there any more. Her red-brown hair was only just growing out from the brutal crop deemed appropriate for Jedi apprentices, and just long enough that the feathery curls got in her eyes more than she liked. It wasn’t long enough to hide the pointed ears that marked her as one of the Picti, a native of the planet Alba. Those, and her build, slender but packed with far more muscle than most humanoid females. The Picti were an odd mix – they lived by a warrior code of honour, but had a deep respect for all sapient life, organic or droid. Helli had been taught, even before being brought to the Temple, both how to fight and how not to kill.

She had also been brought up to be honest. “I’ll have to rely on your expertise rather a lot. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have expected to undergo my trials for at least another year.” Normal circumstances would have included her master being alive, for a start.

“At your service, General.” Torrent really was good. What might he become, if he survived this war? “And I’m sure you’ve earned your place here. The Jedi don’t seem the kind of people to cut corners.” _That_ was certainly true.

“Permission to speak freely, sir?” Spark, second from the end.

“Permission granted – permanently.” Helli couldn’t see the troopers’ expressions under their helmets, but she sensed amusement, and the beginnings of affection for which she’d hoped. Not _too_ much.

“Speaking for myself, after serving with General Skywalker, it’d be a relief to have a more cautious CO for a change.” Helli didn’t bother to hide her smile entirely. She knew the General’s reputation.

Their pilot cut the conversation short. Their gunship was approaching the landing zone assigned to them. Helli switched back into professional mode, going through the motions of ensuring that her team knew the plan. It was a classic distraction-infiltration attack on a Separatist stronghold. The first half was well underway, by the sounds of things. Generals Mundi, Secura and Unduli were keeping the droids busy at the obvious entrances, while Helli’s group slipped in at a side gate General Unduli’s padawan had found for them. Once inside, their orders had been left flexible, but could include information theft, capture of commanding officers and/or straight-up sabotage. Helli didn’t like being given so much licence on her first operation, but she understood the reasoning. The stronghold was too dangerous, and too close to Republic space, to be left operational, but there had been no opportunity for full reconnaissance. This was the best possible compromise, and Helli was too wet behind the pointy ears to feel confident enough to argue.

“Landing zone” applied to the team, not the ship. Once they were down, they were on their own, bar limited comms. The Republic army was too short of gunships to waste, or endanger, one unnecessarily. Helli braced herself for the descent, hoping she was hiding the fear of heights she still couldn’t eradicate. If any of her men noticed, they kept quiet. She went down first on the basis that if any of the others fell, she could see it and slow them with the Force from a less panic-inducing position. It wasn’t necessary. They’d been bred for this – literally.

Once they were all down and the gunship had returned to the main battle, Helli activated her wrist-comm. “General Abbasa, reporting in. We’re on the ground, awaiting directions.” She allowed herself a flicker of pride at the steadiness of her voice despite her still-racing heart, but only a flicker.

“Stand by, General.” The voice on the other end of the comm, despite considerable distortion, was recognisably that of Padawan Barriss Offee. Helli knew her slightly, and admired her a lot. General Unduli’s apprentice already had quite a reputation. But that didn’t matter at that moment. Not as much as getting Helli and her team safely through the maze of rocks and canyons that lay between them and their destination. There was no question of using a tracking beacon; even the commlinks were a risk. Helli’s communication skills, even with her men helping, were tested to the limit as she and Barriss bounced information back and forth, working out the safest, fastest route to the side door, all the time alert to the possibility of attack.

They made it within sight of the hopefully-unguarded entrance without too much difficulty. Echo, on one side of Helli in their pre-assault cover, made a visual sweep through macrobinoculars and Eagle, on the other, activated a hand-held wide-band EM scanner while Helli and Barriss exchanged formalities as best they could through the increasing distortion coming from the base. Once inside, they really would be on their own.

Barriss signed off with something that was probably “may the Force be with you”, and Helli switched off the comm and turned her attention to getting the gate open. There didn’t seem to be an external opening mechanism, but the door was made of the local rock, something sedimentary and relatively soft. It would be no match for Helli’s sabre.

“I can’t sense anything behind the door, but all the same, I don’t want to take any chances if I can help it. Fives, Echo, you go to the left of the entrance; Torrent, Spark, take the right. Eagle, stay back here and keep scanning. If you pick up anything, signal us straight away. Does that sound like a plan?” Helli regretted the last sentence as soon as it was out of her mouth, but it seemed not to matter. Her team raised no objections, but slipped into position with more stealth than their builds suggested possible, leaving her to make her way to the entrance. As she ignited one blade of her sabre, ready to make a new hole in the rockface, her instincts and Eagle shouted warnings at the same time. Just _in_ time. The door slid back to reveal a corridor, and at the other end…

“Rollies, inbound!” Helli had already shifted her stance, ready to fight. The others fanned out behind her as the two shielded droids spun towards them. A flick of her awareness towards where their minds should be told her why she hadn’t picked them up earlier. These weren’t sapient, like most battle droids. They were simply dumb machines, programmed to attack anything living that came within a certain radius of the side gate. That made things easier. Helli let her training and the Force take over, trusting her men to aim true as she batted laser beams back towards their originators. This was where her unconventional choice of sabre came in useful. Two blades meant twice the defensive capability.

She bit back an oath she’d learned from her late master as a laser scorched her robes while she moved to deflect another one. Behind her, she could hear that Fives didn’t quite have the same restraint. He did, however, immediately follow the curse up with “Sorry, sir.”

“I’ve heard worse. And if any situation called for bad language, this one would be on the list.” Helli’s tongue was operating on autopilot. She could see the droids’ shields weakening. Almost, almost… there! She slipped through the shields of one droid, neatly bisected it, and beheaded the other with the follow-through, timing her movements carefully. The pieces of droid fell to the ground with a clatter. Helli didn’t dare allow herself any self-congratulation. There could be more along any minute. The door was still open; they had to get inside, fast, and stay sharp. “Everyone all right?”

“Fine, General.” Torrent.

“Never better.” Fives.

“Operating at full efficiency.” Echo.

“I’m all right.” Spark.

“What about you, Eagle? Eagle!” Helli realised too late that Eagle hadn’t joined them when the droids attacked. But he’d had good cover, hadn’t he? She forced herself to relax, to quiet her own mind and feel for the minds around her. No, no, no… She raced back towards Eagle’s position, the others trailing after her. Her heart stuttered as she saw, even before she reached him, that her worst fear had come true. Eagle was sprawled on the ground, rifle trapped underneath him, a hole visible in his helmet. Somehow, he was still alive and just about conscious. She turned him over carefully, intending to prop him against the rock wall so that the wound could be tended, but her heart stuttered again as the second hole came into view. Just above _his_ heart. Either injury would have been bad enough on its own; between them, his chances of survival were practically zero. But they still had to try.

Torrent, as designated team medic, already had the first-aid kit ready. He didn’t ask for orders, and she didn’t really give them. Just a look that acknowledged both the near-hopelessness of the situation and their obligations. She lifted Eagle’s helmet off while Torrent found what he needed in the kit, then moved to the side to give him space to work, slipping her hand through the wounded man’s. He focused on her, with some difficulty. “Sorry about this, General.” It was little more than a whisper.

“No, I’m sorry.” Helli’s years of training were barely enough to keep her emotions under some sort of control. “You saved us, and I failed you.”

“Don’t blame yourself.” Eagle found the strength to put his free hand on her shoulder. “Just – make sure you win. Don’t want to die for nothing.”

“I’ll do my best.” Helli managed a smile. She was about to tell him to stay with her, to hang on, when his hand slipped from her shoulder, the other going limp in hers, and the light faded from his eyes. If Helli hadn’t been a Jedi, she would probably have burst into tears. Instead, she leaned over, kissed his forehead and whispered, “Rest in peace, my brother.”

Grief is a luxury on the battlefield, but honour is not. Helli straightened, looked Torrent in the eye and asked, voice emotionless, “What happens now?”

“We keep moving. Get the mission done. We’ll come back for him afterwards.”

“That makes sense.” Making sure Eagle hadn’t died in vain was the best way of honouring him. The entrance was still open; they slipped through it in the same configuration Helli had originally suggested, minus Eagle. Spark had the scanner instead, and didn’t take his eyes off it, relying on Torrent to guide him. Helli was also scanning around through the Force. Eagle’s death made it surprisingly easy to focus, although that might have had something to do with the mantra she was using to keep her feelings at bay. _Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hatred. Hatred leads to suffering. Fear – anger – hatred – suffering._ If she let her anger take over, the end result would be suffering, and that was not an option.

There were few guards in this part of the building; nothing they couldn’t handle. Typical overconfidence. The Separatists overestimated the abilities of their destroyers. Or the diversion was going spectacularly well. Either or both was likely. Helli let the Force guide her, ignoring Echo’s complaints about the reg manual and Fives telling him to shut up. It didn’t take them long to get within macrobinoc range of the command centre. _That_ was guarded, naturally. Helli swept her eyes over the motley assortment that was probably dignified by the name of leadership. Most were nonentities, but one caught her attention. Nute Gunray. That slippery beggar. If they could get _him_ in cuffs…

It was both strategically sound and unbelievably tempting. The question was how to do it. The team withdrew to a safe distance to plan. The command centre was swarming with commando and super battle droids, programmed to kill on sight any possible threat. They didn’t have the numbers, or the firepower, to take it by force. And there were no covert entrances visible on their scanner. Coming in from above would be foolhardy in the extreme.

“What’s left?”, Fives asked. “Just walk in and talk nicely?” His words dripped sarcasm, but they reminded Helli of something important.

“You know, that’s actually not a bad idea. We’ve been thinking like soldiers, but I’m supposed to be a Jedi. We’re _meant_ to negotiate first. It’s worth a try, don’t you think?”

“You’re the General.” Echo’s tone made it clear that he didn’t agree, but that she _was_ his CO. Another thing she’d forgotten.

“Yes, I am. And a fully trained Jedi Knight. I’ve spent most of my life preparing for this, remember. Now, are we going to try to do something, or are we going to keep arguing while our brothers die?”

That shut them up. Helli didn’t allow herself the luxury of guilt, but pressed on. “Even a commando droid will think twice about attacking a Jedi, or a seemingly unarmed civilian without orders. If I go in solo, make it clear I’m only there to talk, I can get through to the leadership, and negotiate some sort of ceasefire at the very least.”

“I don’t like the idea of you going in alone.” Torrent seemed to have appointed himself her protector. She supposed she’d asked for that, but it did frustrate her when people treated her as though she were made of glass.

“Come with me, then. But no weapons. I can’t claim I’m on a peace mission with a fully armed soldier by my side.”

“Will you leave your lightsabre behind, then?” Fair point, Spark.

Helli considered the question. “I don’t think I can. We’re taught when we make our sabres that they’re our lives. It’d be like cutting off my arm. Besides, it’s the mark of a Jedi. They might not take me seriously without it.” She was well aware that she looked even younger than her years.

“And if something goes wrong?” Echo had a good point, too.

“You three will be our last line of defence. I’ll do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t come to that, but if that’s not enough, _don’t_ take any unnecessary risks. That’s an order. I’ve already lost one person too many today.”

They worked out the details at speed. Helli and Torrent would go in through the main entrance, while the other three found covert positions where they could keep an eye on their CO, and from which they could pile in at her signal if she failed. She vowed to herself that she would _not_ fail. She _could_ not.

The first hurdle was the droids. They had two conflicting impulses when faced with Jedi: the programmed one, instant aggression, and the learned one, instant panic. Helli knew neither would be manageable. She made sure her cloak covered her sabre as she and Torrent walked calmly up to the guards at the main entrance to the command centre and she requested permission to speak to the Separatist leaders. There were times when not looking like a Jedi was actually useful.

Droids. So predictable. Faced with a situation outside their programming, they always go and find an organic to ask. One of the guards did so, leaving Helli and Torrent to stew for several nerve-racking minutes before reappearing and inviting them in, none too gently. Helli was afraid Torrent might snap when one of the commando droids “accidentally” poked him with his electrostaff. As she steadied him, she was ready to whisper a warning to stay on task, but the words died when she sensed that, if anything, he was more focused than she was. Losing Eagle had made them both determined to see this through without any more deaths.

“Well, what do we have here?” Organics can be pretty predictable, too. Giving Torrent a hang-back hand signal, Helli strode forward to greet the Separatist leaders, letting her cloak flutter open to display her sabre, but ostentatiously keeping her hands away from it. “Helli Abbasa, here to negotiate the terms of your surrender.”

That got a laugh. Helli ran through the mantra again as she waited for their mirth to die away. It didn’t take long for them to realise that she was serious. Gunray made the first move. “ _Our_ surrender?”

“Yes, sir. Your surrender. Your forces are being cut to pieces, and as you see, your security has failed you. If we could get through without being noticed, what’s to stop someone trying for your reactor room?” That got the response she expected. Gunray, nearly jumping out of his seat as he followed her reasoning, signalled a couple of droids to check the base’s power source. If Helli hadn’t been who she was, it would have been a tempting target. But she valued life, even enemy lives, even droid lives, too much to try anything so lethal. It had, however, got the leaders’ attention, and maybe unnerved them enough that they’d make a mistake.

“How _did_ you evade our security?” Another of the leaders had joined the conversation. Helli didn’t recognise him.

“I’m afraid that’s classified.” The more droids buzzing about on errands, the more chance there was of Fives, Echo and Spark being spotted. She wanted to keep the leaders off-balance, not fill the base with searchers. “And will shortly be academic.” As though to illustrate her point, an explosion from the still-raging battle outside echoed through the building.

This was a delicate phase in the proceedings. Helli wouldn’t put it past some of these idiots to try to interrogate her or use her as a hostage. That had never worked in the past, but some people never learned. She pushed for the outcome she wanted. “If you give in now, I give you my word of honour, I will do all I can to ensure that you get fair trials. That’s a better deal than you’d get from Count Dooku if he were to catch up to you after this fiasco. Or his master. I suppose you realise that the Sith are using you? Once you’re of no further value, they’ll throw you to us – if you’re lucky.” She left the other outcomes unspecified, but she knew Gunray at least knew how Dooku dealt with failures. That reminded her of a trap she had to avoid at all costs. “It’s all right. Ventress won’t get past us a second time. We’ll be ready for her, or anyone else the Sith send our way.”

The fighting was still getting closer. That, and the reminder of the Separatists’ dependence on an Order notorious for betrayal, seemed to sway the mood of the meeting. Gunray broke first. “May we vote on it? That’s your… democratic way, I believe?”

“Be my guest. I recommend a show of hands. As you can hear, we don’t have much time.” Gunray took her point. “All those in favour of surrender?” A slender majority of hands went up. “All those opposed?” A handful of hands. Helli noted them, and knew her men also had, but she sensed no actual ill-will. Just stubbornness and pride. She also saw that Gunray had hesitated, uncertain of the correct protocol, and took over. “All those choosing to abstain?” A few more hands. The rest were probably still working out what was happening. “Very well. Motion carried. Now, if you will excuse me, I will contact my superiors and arrange for a ceasefire. If someone else would do the same on your side, I would greatly appreciate it.”

Gunray, now too drained by the battle, the debate and Helli’s sheer force of character to argue, made a go-on gesture towards the base’s comms gear (much more powerful than hers) and motioned to a tactical droid to comply with her request as Torrent approached him with a pair of binders. Helli had just finished telling General Mundi the good news when her senses sounded the alarm. She turned, slipping automatically into a fighting stance, to see Torrent wrestling one of the leaders to the ground. The one who had asked about evading security. He still had a knife in his hand. And, now, three red dots on his face as her men trained their rifles on him. She raised her hand in a leave-off signal, and the dots left the man’s head, retreating to the floor nearby. Helli, seeing that Torrent had disarmed her would-be assailant, reached down to help the man up, snapping her own binders into place just as a precaution.

Raising her voice so that everyone in the room, and her snipers outside it, could hear, Helli said, “Vengeance is not the Jedi way. Nor should it be the way of any person who wishes to be honourable or civilised. Harming those we perceive to have wronged us, or meeting violence with more violence – these will only tear us apart. We must make every effort to build one another up, to build bridges and not walls. That does not mean submitting to evil, or forfeiting justice, but it does mean tempering that justice with mercy, and taking care that in the process of defending ourselves and one another from evil, we do not do evil ourselves, or become the cause of it in others.”

“Worthy sentiments, young one.” Helli turned to see that General Mundi and two of his troopers had come in, and bowed to the Jedi Master. “Your teacher would be proud of you.”

“I hope he is, sir. Wherever he’s gone.” Helli hadn’t realised she was tired, but fatigue and adrenaline backwash were hitting her like a pint of beer, loosening her tongue. Luckily for her, the General seemed to understand, and certainly didn’t comment. He did, however, ask what she’d done with the rest of her men. She didn’t need to signal them; Fives, Echo and Spark were already in the room, and moved to take up station behind her. Mercifully, the General didn’t ask about Eagle. She didn’t feel up to talking about that just yet. A full debriefing later was a certainty, but for the time being she was happy to watch her masters taking charge of the situation and her prisoners.

Eventually, just as Helli and her men were getting fed up with feeling like so many spare parts, Barriss came over to invite them out to a waiting gunship. Helli did her best to answer her former fellow-padawan’s questions politely, but didn’t go into more detail than necessary. Barriss got the message pretty quickly, and gave the older female the space she needed, especially when they diverted to the side entrance to pick up Eagle’s body. It wasn’t just exhaustion, or grief. Helli felt that she had crossed a line that day that the younger woman hadn’t. Not just being in combat – she knew Barriss had plenty of combat experience – but being in command. Being responsible for the lives of others, and failing one of them. And having to stay true to her ideals in tricky situations. It had forged a bond between her and her men, but taken her further away from her former peers. Oh well. War being what it was, a _lot_ could change, and fast. All she could hope for was that her brothers would have her back, and she’d have theirs. And that she’d have plenty of opportunities to use words instead of weapons.


End file.
